How can they make “vegan meat” that’s made of plants taste and feel so much like real meat?
In: Biology
u/Volsarex is the closest to the right answer, if only he named the protein. The molecule is heme – it’s what the red juices that come out of meat is made of (it is not, contrary to appearance, blood). Heme is part of hemoglobin, the protein structure that encapsulates iron molecules and is what acts as an oxygen carrier in our red blood cells.
Your liver processes old and dead red blood cells, strips the precious iron from the hemoglobin, and throws the heme down the garbage shoot – the bile duct. Heme then constitutes what is called your “bile pigments” and is the reason your shit is brown. It would be white because of the bleaching effect of your stomach acids, otherwise, and if you ever get sick enough, you may find that out the hard way!
Anyway, heme in meat alternatives has nothing to do with shit, the knowledge was an intrusive thought and I couldn’t help but make that connection for you – seeing the whole “bigger picture”.
The protein is indeed found in plants, which makes it compatible with strict vegan diets, and is the secret sauce to make meat alternatives taste and smell like real meat. Chemists can synthesize it. The texture of these products is, as commented, another problem.
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